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Hospital infections leave a lasting impact on the individuals and families who had to experience them. For Mary Brennan-Taylor, hospital infections took the life of her mother, Alice Brennan, who passed away in 2009 after entering the hospital for pain and swelling in her leg.

You’ve heard of UFOs but have you heard of RFOs? 194 Pennsylvanians could tell you about their RFO encounter last year – that’s how many cases of “retained foreign objects” were reported to that state’s Patient Safety Authority in 2008.

Carole Moss has been a lead advocate on the effort to pass legislation requiring California hospitals to report their infection rates available to the public. The bill is named after her son, Nile, who died of MRSA, an antibiotic resistant superbug. The legislation also requires screening of patients for MRSA and isolating those that have it.

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Implantable medical devices should be safety tested before approved to be used on patients!

We shouldn’t be used as involuntary test subjects when it comes to something as serious as a medical implant like hip and knee replacements, internal defibrillators and surgical mesh. According to a national Consumer Reports poll, 91 percent of consumers want medical implants safety tested. And 95 percent say implants should be tracked, so if they go bad or get recalled, Americans who have them can be quickly notified. Bills just released in Congress to revamp our medical device safety laws do neither.